MJ Unpacked Atlantic City: Ferris Wheels, Fire Flower, Rosin Clouds, and Real Relationships

May 13, 2026
By Dustin Hoxworth

Cannabis conferences are wild. It’s like a business conference had a baby with a family reunion in the middle of a smoke session, and somehow it all worked out perfectly. When they’re done right, these conferences remind you why so many of us are still fighting through all the bullshit this industry throws at us on a daily basis.

From the second I walked into the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City on May 5th, the energy was there. Good people doing good things, smoking excellent flower, while having real conversations that turn into opportunities. And unlike some events that feel lame, bloated, or overly corporate, MJ Unpacked Atlantic City 2026 actually felt like a community connected. Tight-knit in the best possible way.

Before I even arrived in Atlantic City, George Jage and his team had already pulled Fat Nugs Magazine into a partnership to help amplify the event digitally through social media campaigns, email marketing pushes, and a pre-event press release that drove thousands and thousands of eyeballs toward the conference. By the time I got on site, it already felt like we were part of something bigger than just another trade show.

Relationships Over Everything

Honestly, no amount of marketing really prepares you for the feeling of finally stepping into an event for the first time and seeing how it actually moves. The first day was smooth. Travel cooperated for once. I flew into Hartford, CT, where Jeremy Ortiz scooped me up, and we headed down to Jersey, locked and loaded.

As soon as we arrived in Atlantic City, we linked up with a ton of people almost immediately, walked the expo floor, caught up with Freedom Grow founders Randy Lanier and Kristin Flor, Summit Made co-founder Holden Farahani, and Justin Sheerin of Jencap. I pretty quickly realized this event had a very different energy than other cannabis conferences.

One of my biggest takeaways was that MJ Unpacked never felt overwhelming. You could realistically make your way across the show floor in a few hours if you wanted to speedrun the whole thing. But where’s the fun in that?

Cannabis events are supposed to be about relationships. They’re supposed to be about stopping every 15 feet because you run into someone you respect, someone you haven’t seen in years, or someone you’ve wanted to work with forever. MJ Unpacked Atlantic City created space for that naturally. It wasn’t so massive that people disappeared into the void. Conversations actually had room to breathe, and I had a lot of them.

I spent time with some of the smartest people in cannabis, including Rachel Wright of Verdant Strategies, Angela Pih, the CMO of True Terpenes, David Sandelman of Cannatrol, Samantha Seagaard of The Fresh Connection, and Sean Cute of Rx Green Technologies and Host Cannabis Co., who is also a veteran and shared some absolutely fire flower with me.

Rosin, Flower, and the Culture That Connects Us

Another thing people outside the industry sometimes don’t fully understand about our community: we travel with our medicine, that’s just part of it. Throughout the week, there was rosin and flower floating around from all over the country. Different states, from different growers, and all with different aromas, flavors, and appearances. That culture of sharing remains one of the coolest parts of this industry because it creates connection, conversation, and community instantly. There is nothing else like it in the professional world. And to Atlantic City’s credit, the local supply was legit too.

One of the most eye-opening and genuinely brilliant moments of the week happened on Wednesday morning. I woke up, turned on the hotel television, and immediately started seeing commercials for brands exhibiting downstairs at the expo. That is a ridiculously smart move, IMO.

Think about it. The conference is taking place inside the hotel. Everyone attending is staying there. So attendees wake up, grab coffee, turn on the TV, and instantly start seeing the companies they’re about to walk downstairs and interact with face-to-face. It sounds simple, but I’ve never seen another cannabis conference execute that kind of integrated marketing so effectively. It was one of those moments where you stop and think, “Damn. Somebody really understood the assignment.”

Ironically, I was so busy having meetings and conversations that I barely got to attend any of the actual panels, which was a little painful because there were several I really wanted to catch. Angela Pih, Megan Mbengue, Anna Schwabe, and others were all part of discussions I had mentally circled going into the week. But because the show itself was so connected and tight-knit, I ended up running into most of those people organically anyway.

That became part of the beauty of the event. The networking never felt forced. It just happened naturally everywhere you went. Whether you were in the elevators, hallways, restaurants, lobby bars, expo aisles, or some random corner of the casino floor, you saw someone you knew and wanted to talk to.

Ferris Wheels, AC Nights, and Why Events Like MJ Unpacked Atlantic City Matter

Then there was the afterparty. George Jage and his team threw one of the more unique cannabis afterparties I’ve been to in years out on the pier. Rides, games, music, and crowds of folks consuming everywhere. And yes, a giant Ferris wheel that people were absolutely hotboxing. The entire thing felt loose, alive, and genuinely fun in a way that other industry events try to manufacture but rarely achieve.

Even Atlantic City itself added to the atmosphere—I got warned multiple times not to wander around the city streets at night. But throughout the entire week, the overall atmosphere surrounding MJ Unpacked stayed positive, upbeat, and energetic. People were there to connect, build, and figure out how to survive and grow in one of the hardest industries imaginable.

Cannabis has no shortage of challenges. Regulations are brutal, taxes are insane, capital is tight, and entire markets are struggling. But events like MJ Unpacked remind you that there are still incredibly smart, passionate, resilient people pushing this industry forward every single day. And that energy is contagious.

Huge respect to George Jage and the entire MJ Unpacked team for putting together a conference that felt alive, welcoming, fun, and human. And next time? Fat Nugs Magazine is bringing the cameras, long-form interviews, and maybe even the Faces of Cannabis, too!